By Aaron Coe
Herald Writer
MILL CREEK – Steve Johnson wanted a job in his own back yard, and he got it last week when he was selected as the new coach of the Jackson High School basketball team.
Johnson, who had been the head coach at Woodinville the past four seasons, takes over a promising program close to his home in Mill Creek.
He said proximity was the main reason, but that he would not have left Woodinville if he did not believe Jackson had the potential to be a top-notch program.
“Telling those kids at Woodinville that I was leaving was without exaggeration the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” said Johnson, who take over for Eddie Mascari, who resigned after the 2001-02 season. “It was very difficult to leave. I just felt that, living in Mill Creek, it was a great opportunity to be closer to home. If it hadn’t been a school and a basketball program that has a lot of potential, I wouldn’t have made the move.”
Johnson’s assistant at Woodinville, Kevin Rohrich, was hired as the new head coach at Cascade a week earlier.
Johnson led the Falcons to the postseason all four years while competing in the brutal Kingco 4A conference. Johnson, who compiled a 42-34 record as a head coach after five years as a Woodinville assistant, emphasized that the move was not made based on next year’s team, but acknowledged the 2002-03 season holds significant promise.
Four of Mascari’s five starters will be back, including leading scorer Chris Keller and the versatile Craig Chambers, who recently announced his verbal commitment to play football at the University of Washington.
“They have some good players coming back,” Johnson said. “The expectations will be high, and perhaps justifiably so. I think we should feel we’ll be at or near the top of the Wesco South, and I certainly hope the kids will have those sort of expectations.”
Johnson, who has three small children, including 3-year-old twins, graduated from Palo Alto (Calf.) High School in 1986. His high school team lost a total of eight games during Johnson’s three years as a starter. He accepted a baseball scholarship to St. Mary’s, and transferred to the University of Washington, where he earned a degree in communications.
“I think we got a good one,” said Steve Stearns, Jackson’s athletic director. “He’s an outstanding teacher. He’s one of those guys that eats, sleeps and drinks basketball. We had six outstanding applicants, and we narrowed it down to him.”
Johnson, who currently teaches at Woodinville, will begin teaching Humanities at Jackson in the fall.
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